Was around during the time an I can say with absolute certainty all things Sony including the Betamax products were smaller with a better overall user design (think buttons and external displays). Sony was just better than most every company when it came to analog video and portable audio.

Regarding licensing fees, consumers rarely saw those fees because they were mostly renting movies. Few people ever mastered the art of recording television shows in the US (fewer purchased recorders). And when they did it was oftentimes while they were at home. Literally everyone of that generation had a VHS whose clocked flashed because the owner could not set the time. I mention this because setting the time was required if you wanted to plan a recording while you were away from home.

I mention all of this because these machines were used by a generation who never utilized them for anything other than renting videos and recording while at home.

Beta lost because of marketing and the lack of choice among Betamax devices (this is where the licensing came to play).

If the person making the audio/video choices was technical or an audiophile they purchased a Betamax.

Not to be overly critical but that generation relied heavily on marketing to make those types of purchasing decisions. Product quality or the feature set could be easily overshadowed by dynamic marketing.

Regarding porn, there was porn on video but during the VHS/Betamax period most porn was in magazine form.